CHAPTER FIVE
THE BRUSH OF A THOUSAND CRIMES
Everything looked the same.
The castle housed a labyrinth of identical gray stone hallways and shadowed recesses. Sconces burned sporadically, creating a fine sheen of smoke that clung to the ceiling.
“The dining chamber must be downstairs. Have you seen any stairs?” I asked.
Lilyanna gripped my arm. Her skirts swooshed behind us, snagging with an occasional rip of fabric on the rough floor. I’d grabbed her the first dress I could find, not thinking through the color choice of shiny bronze which rapidly collected dust as we walked, fading to a dull, burnished taupe. It wouldn’t matter, there was a whole brand-new wardrobe in her rooms gifted to her by the prince. She could throw it away after dinner and help herself to a dozen new ones.
“I haven’t been out since I arrived.” She glanced over her shoulder before continuing. “But when I was escorted to my rooms, I didn’t go up any stairs. The corridors slope upward, I think.”
“Why didn’t you arrive with your own guards or maid?”
“They brought me to the castle but were allowed no further. I was informed I’d be assigned whomever I needed when I got here.” She answered my unspoken question, “Something about not wanting an outsider to become familiar with the layout, you know, in case the match didn’t work out.” I grunted, and she added, “For security. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it.”
Tap-tap-tap.
I stared at the walls, searching for the cause of the noise.
Lilyanna opened her mouth to continue, but I cut her off with a raised hand. We walked in silence for a moment, but the sound didn’t recur. Her constant babble of conversation was ruining my concentration. How was I supposed to memorize the route and think about my real mission with her blathering on?
In reply, the magic stirred in my blood with a dim knocking of its own, preparing to be unleashed. That must’ve been what I’d heard. It was distracting, and if I didn’t tamp it back down, it would become a full-throated scream within my blood vessels before long.
At the beginning, before Siobhan forced me to override the impulses with her own unique teaching style, the magic would ooze from my fingertips. Sometimes slow, black, and sticky, but other times spurting fresh and arterial. Any hint of power up here would have me thrown in jail until I could be exsanguinated or publicly hung. Maybe even packaged up and sent back to the queens, or however the prince decided to deal with magic in his town.
I took a deep breath and forced the swell of magic to ebb. As it faded, my mind cleared. I stopped, swiveling my head in an attempt to assess if we were going up or down. The temperature plummeted as we entered a new corridor. The way ahead was gloomy with thin smoke pooling on the ceiling, reaching down with small tendrils to snag passersby. The stone floor morphed into gnarled floorboards in an obvious division.
“This is ridiculous.” I slapped the wall, instantly regretting it as pinpricks of pain lashed up my arm. The magic bucked, seizing onto my outburst. “This can’t be right. Let’s go back the way we came and try again.”
“Don’t worry, Tam.” Lilyanna patted my arm. “You’ll get use to the layout.”
I grumbled my reply. I was not a tour guide, nor a chauffeur, and here I was trapped in this rat maze of a castle. I couldn’t even see my reward at the end of it. I should be free right now, as free as I could be, doing who or what I wanted. I kicked petulantly at the wall, the boards under my feet creaking, and the magic throbbed against my temples in response.
Slam! A loose stone plunged from the ceiling, ripping between us. I pushed her away and leaped back. Another fell directly in front, a cloud of darkness billowing out. Dust coated my mouth and choked my throat. I coughed, dragging Lilyanna back by the elbow until the air cleared again.
We stood in stunned silence.
“I don’t think this is the right way,” she deadpanned. “The castle is sending us a sign.” She gave one shrill giggle before dissolving into a coughing fit.
I clapped her on the back until she’d righted herself. “At least you can see the bright side of this place.” I smiled, gently brushing dust from her shoulders when a foul odor wafted up. I pulled my face away. “You stink.”
“What!” She spun around, frantically dusting herself. “I’m supposed to meet the prince.”
I caught her mid-twirl and picked large chunks of something black and rotten from her blonde hair. Did that come from the ceiling? I glanced up at the hole, now obscured as smoke from the sconces seeped in.
A chill breeze swished through the corridor, dispersing the pile of dust beneath the hole in the ceiling. The two stone tiles had fractured, perfectly aligning themselves with their identical counterparts on the floor, forming a raised divide where the stone ceded to wooden floorboards.
I returned my attention to Lilyanna. “Come on, I’ll fix you up on the way.” We moved in the opposite direction. “Hopefully he’ll have a long, old-fashioned table and won’t be able to smell you from way down there.”
I swatted at her skirt, dislodging more particles, and she pushed my hand away, lifting her chin. “Not funny.”
“It kind of is.”
The corner of her mouth twitched.
We rounded a corner and immediately faced the dining room. The large oak doors were flung open with warm candlelight blanketing the expansive stone floor. She straightened, somehow losing both the playfulness and strength in her expression. In the blink of an eye, she was the young, helpless woman who couldn’t even draw herself a bath.
